TV GUIDE article from 12/76: The re-making of 'Rhoda' in S3

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I was 5 at the time, and the downfall of Rhoda and Joe's marriage was one of my first introductions to divorce.

It sounds to me as though the writers could not adjust to the character of Rhoda evolving into a confident, happy person and staying that way. They could only relate to her on the negative side, the way she was when the character was first created. Rhoda was full of insecurity and self-esteem issues, and that was the only way they could see her. People do change, but that was obviously something the writers were unable to adapt to.

I can kind of see the "excitement" of the whole separation thing from the perspective of the actors, now that I am older. However, going the divorce route was still not the best decision, as far as I am concerned.

Interesting article. Instead of Grant Tinker's being supportive of the divorce idea, I wish he had told the writers/producers, "Listen, it was your idea to marry off Rhoda quickly, near the start of the series. And now you complain that you have no plot ideas for her as a married woman. If you guys aren't talented enough to come up with interesting and funny plotlines based on your own premise, I'll have to bring in someone who can." It seems as though not too much thought and planning went into the development of this show. It's sad for the actors, who are forced to try to make illogical plotlines are character actions believable.

Not too many TV shows have tried to write realistically about marriage. The TV landscape is still overrun with single people. I think married life has traditionally been seen as uninteresting, undramatic, and unfunny. As an example, recently I read a book about the creation of The Andy Griffith Show, and it actually said that having Andy be married would have been boring. They saw many more plot possibilities with having him date a number of different women over the years.

It's unfortunate that the writers/producers of Rhoda could only envision their lead character as fun and compelling if she never found true love.